Share Sounds. from The Business Of Film presented by Simon Rose

With box office buoyant, James Cameron-Wilson was blown away by Alien:Romulus, the 9th in the series and the new #1. It feels fresh and smart, has a great retro look and, above all, is how horror films should work. He was glad to have caught #22 Hollywoodgate, a documentary made with the Taliban's cooperation after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving behind £7bn of military equipment. He found it eye-opening, fascinating and frightening. He (and Simon) were full of praise for the 2-disc set of Laurel & Hardy: The Silent Years. Beautifully restored, these comedies from 100 years ago and more are still fresh and funny and the superb extras only add to the enjoyment.

James Cameron-Wilson is joined by guest interrogator Chad Kennerk to discuss the UK box-office, which has dipped 3% from the previous weekend. Sadly, he was not a fan of any of the three new releases in the marketplace: he found 'It Ends With Us' implausible and ridiculous, M. Night Shyamalan’s psycho-thriller 'Trap' contrived and inexplicable and the video game adaptation 'Borderlands' (with Cate Blanchett, of all people) derivative and chaotic.

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates box office up 82%, helped by Deadpool & Wolverine at #1 for a 2nd week. He enjoyed the sweet-natured, amusing family film Harold & The Purple Crayon at #5 which is full of joi de vivre, innocence and wonder. He also loves Thelma at #20. June Squibb's first starring role at the age of 94, it's an action thriller like you've never before which is also extemely funny. On Apple+ he mostly enjoyed The Instigators with Matt Damon reunited with director Doug Liman in an anti-heist movie.

James Cameron-Wilson reports on a healthy UK box office despite the hot weather. New #1 is Deadpool & Wolverine, the first Marvel film James has enjoyed in a long time. Its 15 certificate is well-deserved as it has lots of blood, beheadings and bad language and there's too much CGI combat but Ryan Reynolds' meta-banter is undeniably funny and the film is full of "Easter Eggs" for fans. The 1959 Sylvia Syms and Herbert Lom British drama No Trees in the Street is available on 4K restoration disc. Shot like an American film noir it's a poverty row drama which is a fascinating time capsule and makes you appreciate the conveniences and luxuries of modern life. Guy Ritchie's films keep going straight to streaming in the UK, including the supposedly true-life war film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. It's very Guy Ritchie, bloody with lots of OTT violence but is nonetheless a guilty pleasure.

While box office is down 12%, James Cameron-Wilson is excited by Twisters, taking £3.1m at #2, thinking the disaster movie is ripe for revival. A standalone sequel, he found this big slice of popcorn escapism with Daisy Edgar-Jones intense and totally engrossing. He wished he'd been able to see Kevin Costner's gargantuan Western project Horizon: An American Saga Part One on the big screen but had to settle for its streaming appearance. Although flawed and sometimes hard to understand, he still found it brilliant and visually amazing. He wanted to like Russell Crowe as a detective with memory loss in Sleeping Dogs on Amazon Prime but, despite the presence of Karen Gillan, it's a B-movie which is formulaic and implausible.

James Cameron-Wilson revels in UK box office up 64% thanks to the bad weather and a raft of new films. #1 is Despicable Me 4 which he likes no more than the other 5 in the franchise, finding a U certificate for such a violent film surprising. At #3 is horror film Longlegs from Oz Perkins (Anthony Perkins' son) with Nic Cage, which James found well made and unnerving. He was less charitable about supposedly trueish #4 Fly Me To The Moon with Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. Failing as both romcom and conspiracy thriller, it is flat and ludicrous. He was absorbed, if not scared, by the well-made and often amusing South Korean horror film Sleep about somnambulism, #17 in the chart.

Cineworld plans to close 25% of its cinemas and James Cameron-Wilson says box office is down 26%, though Inside Out 2 is riding high with £40.1m, making it the biggest hit of 2024. Prequel A Quiet Place: Day One is #2 but, while accomplished and watchable, it doesn't have the coiled tension of the first two films. Despite loving films of Yorgos Lanthimos like The Favourite and Poor Things, James was not enamoued of Kinds of Kindness, an anthology movie with Emma Stone which is weird without being wonderful and a case of the emperor's new clothes, with no narrative cohesion. 40 years on, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, out on Netflix, creaks in all the wrong places with Eddie Murphy looking the same but with his manic energy diminished. So by the numbers, it's not worth your time.

With the box office relatively robust, despite the warmer weather, James Cameron-Wilson saw Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy in #2 The Bikeriders, taking £1.1m. Despite its great look and some fine acting, he found it a poseurfest that doesn't knit together and lacks real characters. He was impressed by #10 Something in the Water. Although it only took £120,000, this terrific British-made Carribean-set survival thriller is head and shoulders above most genre films this year. Unusually for James, he was genuinely unnerved on many occasions. He was also impressed by Apple TV's Fancy Dance, an unblinking look at life on an American reservation with Lily Gladstone which is moving and touching and perhaps the most realistic film about contemporary Native Americans.

James Cameron-Wilson reports UK box office up a remarkable 100%, thanks to the new #1 Inside Out 2, which took £11.3m. That's the biggest opening of the year and the 3rd biggest UK opening for an animated film. Pixar have done it again with an enjoyable adventure which is both exciting and funny. On Netflix, Glen Powell has a star-making turn in Richard Linklater's Hit Man, a romcom supposedly based on a true story. With a terrific script and great chemistry, it's an entertaining watch. And on Amazon Prime, Bad Behaviour sees Jane Campion's daughter Alice Englert do virtually everything in a bracingly original, disturbing, funny and touching drama.

James Cameron-Wilson says the box office is only up 10% with new #1 Bad Boys: Ride or Die picking up almost £4m. James found this sequel, 29 years after the original, profane, violent, meaningless and formulaic. #6 The Watched is a cabin-in-the-woods horror written and directed by Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M Night. But it turns out to be cliched, dreary and often nonsensical. Simon recommended Italian drama La Chimera starring Josh O'Connor and Isabella Rossellini about a group of tomb robbers. And for home viewing, James thought the Tokyo-set Oscar-nominated Wim Wenders film Perfect Days, about a man who cleans toilets, to be the director's best since Paris, Texas 40 years ago.